In late 1979, Gene Sheehan and Tom Jewett, co-founders of the
Quickie Aircraft Corporation, builders of the successful
Quickie tandem-winged kitplane, started development of an aircraft to attempt to make the first unrefuelled round-the-world flight. This would require a flight of at least 22,800 miles (36,700 km), almost double the existing unrefuelled
flight distance record of 12,532 miles (20,176 km) set by a
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber in January 1962. While Quickie Aircraft had made their name with the tandem-winged Quickie, their design for the round-the-world flight which was initially known as the "Big Bird", but later was named "Free Enterprise", was a more conventional single-engined high-winged
monoplane of
tractor configuration. Its high-
aspect ratio all-metal wings were based on those of the
Laister Nugget sailplane, while the slender fuselage and empennage were of Kevlar/fiberglass/Urethane foam
composite construction. The aircraft took off using a
tricycle trolley which would then be jettisoned, the aircraft landing on a ventral skid. Two large fuel tanks were mounted in the fuselage which, together with tip-tanks on the end of the wings, held 365 US Gallons (1,382 litres) of fuel. It was powered by a 135 hp (100 kW)
PZL-Franklin air-cooled
flat-six piston engine, chosen for its superior fuel economy. The pilot sat in an enclosed cockpit under a bubble canopy. The plan was for Jewett to make the flight at high-altitude, to take advantage of
jetstream winds, with an average 50
knot tailwind expected. He was to carry out the flight on oxygen, using an
autopilot to allow some sleep during the record flight, which was estimated to take about 80 hours. Sophisticated radio navigation gear was fitted to pinpoint the aircraft's position and to warn Jewett if it drifted off-course. The flight was planned to start and finish at
Houston Intercontinental Airport,
Texas, flying eastwards over the
Atlantic and
Mediterranean, then using the jetstreams over China and the
Pacific Ocean. ==Operational history==